The invention disclosed herein relates generally to tape handling apparatus, particularly tape advancing systems and components thereof, and more particularly to systems and components thereof for advancing tape past a printing device in a mailing machine. The invention relates further to a tape advancing system which draws at least two tapes, which may be different or the same, from a reeled supply thereof and presents one tape at a time for imprinting with postage indicia or the like.
It is desirable for a mailing machine to process different sizes and types of mail quickly and efficiently. It is also desirable for a mailing machine to imprint postage and like indicia either directly on the mail piece or on a tape strip which is thereafter affixed to a mail piece that may be too large or too irregularly shaped to imprint postage indicia directly thereon. Moreover, for high-speed operation, it is desirable that the mailing machine selectively imprint either the mail piece or a tape without shutting down the machine to changeover from imprinting mail pieces to tape and vice versa. It is also desirable for a mailing machine to imprint different types of tape, for example, a tape having a water-activate adhesive and a tape having a pressure-sensitive adhesive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,786, discloses a dual tape drive system which utilizes separate motors to advance each of two tapes. Another motor is used to move a track on which the tapes are advanced between a home position and a printing position. The tape module disclosed herein includes a tape drive system which is an improvement over the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,786.